Change of Heart

59

Morgan POV

Today is the worst day of the week. Monday. It's been a whole five days since Jamie and I have had a real conversation.

Lately, our communication amounted to nothing more than greetings and checking on each other's well being via text message. We used to be getting closer. Really being present for each other when we both felt alone. For the past month we started to try a weekend rotation to visit the other at home, but that didn't happen this weekend.

I didn't think we were on bad terms, but I can tell that something is off and I don't feel like it's me that's causing the disconnection between us. I've been patiently waiting for this day to talk to Jamie face to face because I wanted to allow her to have some alone time this weekend to figure out why she's acting strange. Whatever caused her to shut me out last week needs not to happen again. There's already enough distance between us with our homes.

The morning started off as it usually did, Lonnie picked me up then Chaz and brought us all to school. Then, we all waited at our spot for Jamie or for the first bell if she was there before us. This morning she wasn't, so we waited.

I sat on the bench and decided to scroll on Twitter before prison- I mean school started. Twitter was my go-to app for when I was bored and in need of something to make the time pass. It's undeniably filled with laughter, drama, and pure entertainment. Three things that make life less uninteresting.

Without having to witness with my own eyes, I knew she was approaching because I saw Lonnie get up and start dancing. She would only do something random like that if it was her best friend and Chaz was already with us so I knew it was Jamie.

I purposely kept my concentration on my phone until she was in my close proximity. Should I speak first or wait for her?

"Babe." She spoke.

I raised my head to meet her gaze.

"Good morning." She silently stared at me.

No enthusiasm. No kiss. No hug. She just standing there looking at me with her hands wrapped on her backpack straps.

Is she half asleep or am I tripping?

I take a moment to remind myself that it's entirely too early to be petty.

"Hey babe." I respond with a blank face. I blink slowly out of habit.

"You ate breakfast already?" She asks me.

I begin to open my mouth to respond but another voice filled my silence.

"Not at all and I'm hella hungry. Took you long enough to get here."

We both look over at Fatty McFatFat, Lonnie, like "did she really just throw herself in our conversation?"

"Look here." I shook my head. "This is an A-B conversation, not A-B-C." I identify each of us, respectively, with my hand flexed dramatically.

She cuts me off to say "so C your way out of it." I could hear her tone mocking me, but I took no offense to it. We had a special kind of weird relationship that was unbreakable. I was paying her big head ass no mind.

"You wanna go get breakfast before they stop serving?" Jamie asks me.

"I thought you'd never ask." Lonnie chimes in again.

I ignore her remarks as if she wasn't there and respond "sure."

We made it in time minutes before they closed off the cafeteria. We took our food and headed back to our spot.

Jamie and I were walking alongside each other just as Chaz and Lonnie were a couple feet ahead of us. I intentionally slowed down my steps to put a distance between us so that I could talk to Jamie alone. I couldn't wait to bring it up. It was eating me alive. When I'm not happy, I'm not happy and I'm gonna speak up about it.

Jamie was acting "normal" but she wasn't acting like my normal girlfriend Jamie. We literally walked to and from the cafeteria and she hasn't said anything.

"Did something happen to you this weekend?" I ask randomly, just to start the conversation.

"No. Why you ask?" She replies without looking in my direction.

Does she not want to talk about something?

"I really feel like something is off but you're not telling me. Do you not like me anymore? Is there someone else?" I admit with hopes that I won't get the wrong answer.

"Woah." She stops walking and I stop with her. "Baby, I would never do you like that. Ever." She made sure to look me in my eyes as she spoke.

After pausing our walk for a moment she continues to walk forward with her eyes ahead, just looking at me every once in a while.

She called me baby but she's still seems like she's acting different.

"I appreciate you giving me time to myself this weekend," she began. "I needed that. At first I was thrown off, but then I saw it for what it could become so I did some thinking this weekend. And I wanted to ask you a question."

Before she could begin her next sentence the first bell had rung.

"You wanted to what?" I ask. The bell was too loud for me to hear the latter part of her sentence.

"Can we talk during lunch today?" She asks.

I had an urge to ask her why not now but I knew how she felt about school. She let me know from day one that her academics are extremely important to her. She made it clear that she didn't just want to get accepted to college because of her athletic gifts but also because of her intelligence. Her mind was one of her attributes that turned me on.

I knew I'd be dumb to try to place myself before her future, so I just let it be.

"Sure."